A good sub is hard to find: Establishing a substitute referral system

Finding and keeping good substitute child care workers is a problem that touches everyone in the field: teachers, administrators, resource and referral workers, and of course, the subs themselves. This article is addressed to all these groups in the hope that coordinated efforts can lead to better practices and new solutions. Below, you will find information on what's causing the substitute crisis and how community agencies around the country are responding.This article is excerpted from the bookletA Good Sub is Hard to Find. To order copies please write: Child Care Employee Project, P.O. Box 5603, Berkeley, CA 94705.     

At the heart of child care: Predictors of teacher sensitivity in center-based child care

This study examined the extent to which characteristics of early childhood teachers and settings predicted observed teacher sensitivity. Participants included 41 head teachers at child care centers located in Northern California. Accreditation status, center size, and program quality were uniquely associated with teacher sensitivity. Accreditation was also associated with a number of other teacher (training, ethnic minority status, and depression) and setting characteristics (program quality, subsidies, and child ethnic minority enrollment). Other unique predictors included more teacher training, smaller center size, and perceived organizational health. Having a greater number of depressive symptoms or working in a larger center were identified as risks to teacher sensitivity, and were moderated by higher levels of teacher training and observed program quality The current study provides preliminary support for the importance of examining the ways that teacher and setting characteristics are related to teacher interactions with young children.     

ADAPTING A METHODOLOGY FROM MATHEMATICS EDUCATION RESEARCH TO CHEMISTRY EDUCATION RESEARCH: DOCUMENTING COLLECTIVE ACTIVITY

In this report, we adapt and extend a methodology for documenting the collective production of meaning in a classroom community. A cornerstone of the methodological approach that we develop is a close examination of classroom discourse. Our efforts to analyze the collective production of meaning by examining classroom interaction are compatible with the relatively recent emphasis in mathematics and science education research that focuses on how communities of learners establish ideas through discourse and inquiry. The methodological approach we take builds on and extends an approach from mathematics education that uses Toulmin’s argumentation model to document and analyze students’ conceptual progress. Our modification introduces a new criterion for empirically demonstrating when particular ways of reasoning become part of the normative practices of the community. An example from an undergraduate course in physical chemistry is used to illustrate the methodology.     

Signs in the Workplaces Semiotics and Human Performance Technology

Semiotics, or the study of signs, has much to offer the field of performance technology. In this paper, we examine the process of analysis and illustrate how semiotic theory can inform the way a performance problem is approached, analyzed, and understood. We argue that a semiotic approach to analysis can reveal meanings that would otherwise remain hidden and which can provide valuable information for the design of appropriate interventions. Semiotics is not so much a new theory of performance technology as much as it provides “value added” to current Human Performance Technology processes.